Bhatija murder case: Court to award sentence on Tuesday

Thane: A local court will pronounce on Tuesday the quantum of punishment in the 23-year-old murder case in which former Ulhasnagar MLA Suresh alias Pappu Kalani and three others were found guilty.

Kalani was convicted for criminal conspiracy by Additional Sessions Judge Rajeshwari Bapat-Sarkar here yesterday, who acquitted two others for want of evidence.

One Ghanashyam Bhatija was murdered in Ulhasnagar on February 27, 1990 near the Pinto Resorts at Ulhasnagar in the district. His brother Inder Bhatija, who had seen his brother getting gunned down, was himself shot dead on April 28, 1990 despite having police protection.

According to police, both the murders were a fall-out of long-standing political and criminal enmities.